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admin
December 17, 2019
IoT, Technology

Cloud-MANET and IoT Collaboration- A New Era of Technology?

The shift in the concept of IoT- from information-based technology to an actively operational-based technology, has affected the market and revolutionised the yesterday’s technology for acquiring data and its storage.

The two-decade-old IoT has introduced ease in data storage and processing which had been lacking since ages.

IoT-based smart devices have sensors which capture data and store it on the database, which is further connected to Physical object.

IoT has sensors, smart devices and a smart grid of interfaces to provide smart solutions.

There are iot development companies which provide the optimal IoT solutions and turns the ordinary device into a small one.

What is Cloud Computing?

The introduction of different computing models like grid computing, parallel computing and disseminated computing into a sole superior computing framework pulled in cloud computing in the technical world.

Today, Cloud computing is exploring the data processing over a serverless service provided through a cloud server which means data is stored, managed and processed using intelligent machines like Artificial Intelligence and machine learning over the cloud network.

There are three basic paradigms offered by Cloud Computing:

  • IaaS-Infrastructure as a Service- It is for network architect who requires infrastructure capabilities.
  • PaaS-Platform as Service- It is for developers who require platforms to develop different applications.
  • SaaS-Software as a Service- It is for end-users who require software for their daily activities.

What is Cloud-MANET?

The cloud-manet framework is regarded as smart communication between smart devices regardless of any centralised infrastructure. This framework is best for Machine to Machine network as there are several devices nearby. User can use this smart device for video, image, text and audio exchange with the cloud servers while lessening the information.

MANET-Mobile ad hoc networks are a network which provides the luxury to users to get connected anywhere at any time. The combination of Cloud and MANET provides access to the cloud in the MANET network for smart devices. Today, users look for MANET network gathering at a single place to access the network.

Also Read: How IoT has Influenced The Healthcare Industry?

Steps of Cloud-MANET Framework:

  • Step 01: Create a mobile ad hoc network.
  • Step 02: Access the ad hoc network in the range.
  • Step 03: Register your smart devices in MANET.
  • Step 04: Register the MANET devices in the cloud.
  • Step 05: Implement the IoT-based Cloud-MANET model to all the smart devices and start communicating.

Cloud-MANET & IoT:

Present cellular networks do not permit all smart devices to connect without a centralised infrastructure. This new combination can increase the capabilities of smart devices. This framework (ad hoc network ) can connect all the smart devices in a decentralised framework.

Normally, smart devices are in the 3D plane on X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis which means the entire area is spread over the wireless network distributed into several cells. They are stationed and are around each cell; smart devices in each cell are free to move within the range.

The smart devices would be able to discover another device nearby in binary digit within the same cell area. If there exists a two-dimensional plane, then the device’s detection would be carried out through the Hidden Markov Model (HMM).

HMM is connected in the working area and devices are allowed to move freely. This model helps them in discovering new devices.

What happens- Smart devices in the range of MANET?

The primary purpose of placing smart devices into the MANET networks is to secure connection and coverage. Initially, MANET remains in an inactive state, but as devices start making communication effort with others, it gets activated. In fact, any steady-state device can communicate and make changes in the dynamic state of MANET.

Also Read: Is IoT is Actively Shaping Security Needs at Edge?

Implementation of MANET:

The smart device users would be able to use cloud service to discover the smart devices, minimise important information like videos, images, messages in big data and could process them.

This framework can be used to extract the maximum benefit from the upcoming 5G heterogeneous network.

To potentially utilise this framework, the business can hire node.js developers who can optimally use the prowess of the Javascript environment to develop specific APIs for this framework.

The IoT enabled smart device would be recognised as service nodes. The interaction between the nodes would be secure, vulnerabilities-free and safe by accepting of the cloud-MANET framework.

The IoT based devices are connected to other devices or network through network protocols like smartwatch, tablets etc. The cloud-computing assists in sharing storage, resources and services.

Cloud computing helps in sharing resources, storage, and services using mobile applications for a large amount of smart data.

This new framework is designed to provide secure communication among smart devices in the area of Cloud-MANET.

This smart algorithm is run as a mobile application and has been tested in cloud-MANET of smart devices for different protocols. The outcomes can be implemented in the framework of IOT in 5G heterogeneous network over the cloud service.

Features to Know:

  • This framework utilises a decentralised infrastructure for smart device communication.
  • It can be integrated into the wireless network area.
  • It is compatible with the 5G (heterogeneous network).
  • It offers reliable and secure communication.
  • The connected smart devices appear as nodes.
  • Through this framework, smart device detection and communication can be done in both 2D and 3D planes.
  • This framework is functional in a dynamic state for communications.

End words

As the 5G networks have grabbed its occupancy among the users; it is not wrong to say that 2020 would be the flourishing year for 5G.

Though the establishment of communication between the smart devices in a heterogeneous structure of 5G network would be challenging on the same line, the budget of Cloud-MANET framework gave the solution to the developers.

A decentralised infrastructure with cloud capabilities would undoubtedly change the outlook of existing IoT. Hence better communication and data exchange among smart devices.

You can too take leverage of this new blend and enjoy the framework potentially to draw maximum profit. But before that get a reliable IoT Development Services and jump into the vast IoT world.

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admin
December 2, 2019
Data Security

How to Overcome Looming Threats on Big Data?

The continuation in the advancement of technology generates approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily. Protection of the data is a vital responsibility of the service provider company. Data security has now erupted as a big concern and must be guarded in proficient ways.

Big data security- this term aggregates all the measures and tools which are used to safeguard both data available cloud and on-premise from malicious activities, attacks, or any thefts that could compromise their confidentiality.

Data is vulnerable:

The increase in the amount of data is directly proportional to threats like DDoS attacks, information piracy, ransomware etc. These attacks could turn even worse when companies store sensitive and confidential information like Contact Info, Identity Information, Credit Card numbers, Bank Details etc. Additionally, attacks on a provider company’s big data could cause severe financial repercussions such as losses, litigation costs, and fines or sanctions. In fact, an unauthorized user might get access and misuse your big data and sell valuable information.

Today most of the data incoming/outgoing pass through Web API. In part, we are sharing some key errors by developers that could lead an organization to significant risk and some simple techniques to mitigate this risk.

Web API mistakes:

The common mistakes made in Web API are listed below:

  • Simple authentication like username/password
  • Weak token encryption
  • Sensitive information like token, username, a password is stored in plain text in cookies
  • No data authorization. Any authorized user has access to all data

Also Read: How To Improve Web Application Security?

Best Practices to tighten the Big data Security:

A) Authentication

API security is complex and requires an explicit crystal knowledge. Many times you built an API that you want to the public, but at the same time, you do not want everybody to access it. In such cases, you need to have control over who can access the API.

For the same reason, use strong authentication like OAuth 2.0, token using HMAC Algorithm or SHA256 with an expiry date. For an additional security use whitelist source IP Address. This would avoid requests for a given token from unauthorized IPs.

Always keep a log of all authentication request with DateTime stamp and source IP.

B) Authorization

The authorization permits a user to grant or restrict permissions on functionality and data. Always implement authorization at Logic or Database Layer. i.e. each request must be authorized of ‘which data access’ is allowed.

C) Brute force

A brute force attack is a trial and approach type cyber attack with a purpose to crack a password or username or find a hidden web page or find the key used to encrypt a message. This method being old is still active and popular among hackers. In this attack attempt, attackers try different user-names and passwords or tokens.

To stop such attacks write codes in a way to auto-detect brute force attack or slow down a client if it makes the number of requests often or directly block such IP for some time.

D) Cookies

Cookies are stored in the browser cache and are easily readable. Never leave sensitive data in cookies as plain text. Use secure encryption like AES 256 with unidentifiable cookie name. Like ‘token’ can be named as ‘zeta’.

E) Set Limits

Set request limits per minute/hour. Configure alerts for flooded request from the same IP.

These are certainly best practices to endeavour the best cybersecurity and nullify the looming attacks.

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admin
November 26, 2019
Web App Security, Web Development

How To Improve Web Application Security?

Are you in “not-aware-of” category who are still not influenced by the IoT or cloud? Well, the development of new technologies is dragging us towards perfection. It is awaking the new expectations and demand to quash the loopholes in the existing technology.

Yesterdays traditional and downloadable applications are fading away since the cloud has started its penetration in the industries. The new generation is turning to program they can use from any connected devices – web applications.

Why go for Web application Development?

The most thrusting reason is-it allows organizations to accommodate remote workers and access a globalized market of connected customers.

Web application needs that services to be always available and secure data transfer. Application breach or service inaccessibility challenges the service capability and leaves a significant impact on you and your customers.

Let us have a view of the common risks and challenges faced by the web application and know some measure to keep you and your customers happy.

#Common Risks for Web Apps:

Though web application has been encountering some risks as traditional offline applications, their connected nature might drag in some additional risks.

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)— In this, attackers write scripts in a user’s browser and redirect users to malicious sites, steal cookies along with user information and download malware.
  • Injection attacks— In this, spoiler submits code to be executed via user input fields. This attack mainly aims to read or modify sensitive (confidential) data, execute malicious functions to applications, and secured access servers.
  • Remote Code Execution (RCE)— In this attacker takes help of automated tools to perform code remotely. The main purpose of the attack is to make the application vulnerable for further attacks or write malicious code.
  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks— In this attacker utilizes a network of compromised devices to overload and spam servers to shut down sites and affect the revenue. Some attackers use this to distract the security team and permit other types of attacks.
  • Logical vulnerabilities— In this, attackers misuse logical flaws to obtain private data, change parameters, disturb security measures.

It is impossible to develop an ideal web application which offers no risk, but if you hire a reliable web development company India, then might face less inconsistency and risk.

Also Read: Why Do You Need To Redesign Your Website?

Practices followed by the top web development company to avoid risk.

A) Shift Security Left:

Shifting security left means integrating security teams and procedures in the development process of the web application. You can achieve this by hiring a web application development company which uses DevSecOps strategy to permit development, security, and operations teams work at a time collectively.

Hiring the right company would ensure you from the risks of being attacked and assures you with the stable functioning of the web application.

Adoption of DevSecOps strategy also offers continuous testing and correction of vulnerabilities.

Web application development company makes sure that it uses a variety of tools and testing procedures before implementing security process. This process guarantees that you cover logical vulnerabilities and code-based smartly and efficiently. The tools used should have Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), which assesses app in the environment, Static Application Security Testing (SAST) to evaluate source code and at last, manual source code audits and both automated and manual penetration test.

B) Use Web Application Firewalls (WAFs):

Depending on traditional firewalls will not help you in securing your application. Firewalls are incapable of analyzing traffic for reasonable restriction and blocking all external traffic is not possible.

Enacting this would prevent customers from accessing the services.

Using WAF, you can analyze HTTP and HTTPS traffic. You would be able to identify and block attacks on the application layer. This activity will add to a better layer of protection but not a full solution.

WAFs work by pattern matching upon known vulnerabilities. Though, it is capable of blocking identified exploits but does not remove the vulnerabilities themselves.

Also Read: Top 6 Cross-Platform Mobile Application Frameworks

C) Restrict Access:

Limiting the access of users and services to their need will pull out the risk. This also reduces the loss caused by an attacker and can be resolved soon. Provide access to administrators to web servers locally, but all remote traffic should be tunnelled and encrypted.

This will hide the source and destination addresses to reduce potential attacks.

While web application development, developers should only include necessary functionalities. Adding daemons or redundant code increase the vulnerabilities in securities.

#Try Bug Bounty Program

The bug bounty program is a program which offers a reward on finding and submitting bugs in an application. These awards are given on reporting exploits or vulnerability in a confidential way. Conducting such programs will attract proficient hackers without requiring initial costs.

Bug bounty programs provide continued security test after deployment of an application.

You can reward your consumers and engage them in the activity as well. They might highlight your dedication towards web app security.

Conclusion:

The erupting change in the choice for technology and booming demand for web application has undoubtedly invited challenges and benefits for organizations and attackers equally. To ensure maximum benefit to the users and organization, you should work on coming problems accordingly.

One can use resources to overcome the vulnerabilities and offer the best security system.

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admin
November 12, 2019
IoT, IoT Development Services

How IoT has Influenced The Healthcare Industry?

Every penny we earn is to keep our self and related people happy and healthy. But health has become a priority, the increase in pollution and the addition of chemicals in food has certainly contributed as a vital factor for the shift.

Today technology has smoothened the path, from consultation till treatment of the patient is just away from a single touch. Availability of health-care application has enabled patients to get appointments and consultation from home only.

Thankfully, IoT has also submerged the health-care industry in its advanced developed technological sea.

Hospitals have been serving people to their best potential, but lack of interaction between hospital and patient had been a significant issue. Regular checkups or close watch over the change in health was not possible, but the inclusion of health-care in IoT has brought changes from ground to the top level.

“As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways.” — Geoff Mulgan

A) IoT in a patient’s life:

IoT has transformed the lives of patients as they are being observed every second through wearables likes fitness bands and other wireless connected devices. There are IoT enabled devices for blood pressure and heart rate monitoring cuffs which provide patients access to personalized attention. These devices are used to keep a check on calories count, heartbeat, blood pressure and will remind them for exercise, diet and medication to improve health every day.

IoT has extended the definition of healthcare. It has brought a drastic change in the lives of elder by keeping the health record and assisting them every moment. If any changes or irregularity is observed, it immediately notifies to the concerned healthcare organization or the family member.

B) IoT in a physician’s life:

Thanks to IoT as it has brought so much of relief in a physician’s life. The use of IoT enabled wearables, and other home monitoring devices by the patient has allowed physicians to monitor the changes occurring in the health of the concerned patient. They can track whether the patient is following the treatment plans or not, does the patient needs any quick assistance or medication. IoT devices collect the data and save it on the cloud so that doctors can provide the best treatment process to patients.

C) IoT in Hospitals:

IoT is not just taking responsibility for the patient’s health but is also in charge of cleanliness in the hospital. IoT enabled devices integrated with sensors are used to track the real-time location of medical equipment like stretchers, wheelchairs, oxygen pumps etc. It can even be used to track the current location of the medical staff.

There are many IoT equipped hygiene devices ( having sensors)which can detect the infection or unhygienic environment in the hospital. It protects patients from getting affected by infections.

IoT devices also maintain the pharmacy assents like refrigerator temperature, humidity etc.

Also Read: Developer Skills Required for Successful Enterprise IoT Projects

D) IoT in Health Insurance Companies:

Health insurance companies can explore exceptional opportunities in IoT. Insurance companies can use data through health monitoring devices for their underwriting and claim operations. This data will rescue them from the fraud claims and will provide prospects for underwriting. IoT has introduced transparency between customer and insurers in term of pricing, underwriting, claims handling and risk assessment processes. Customers will have explicit knowledge of the purpose behind the decisions made and expected outcomes.

Insurers can allure customers by incentives for using and sharing data captured by IoT devices. They can even reward customers for keeping their schedule as per the treatment and taking precautionary health measures to reduce claims.

IoT devices also enable insurance companies to validate claims through the data captured by these devices.

How IoT changed the outlook of healthcare?

The budge of IoT in Healthcare has vastly changed the outlook of healthcare. The immense data produced by IoT has affected the whole healthcare culture in a positive manner.

IoT works in simple four steps:

All four levels are connected to each other to provide the desired outcome.

  1. Step 1: The initial phase includes the deployment of interconnected devices that contains sensors, monitors, detectors, camera systems, actuators etc. These devices are responsible for the collection of data.
  2. Step 2: Data collected by sensors and other devices are generally in analogue form, which is further converted into digital form for processing.
  3. Step 3: After digitization and aggregation, the data obtained is standardized and will be saved on the cloud.
  4. Step 4: The final data will be managed and analyzed at a certain level. The data analysis will procure the expected business insight for effective decision-making.

Also Read: Is IoT is Actively Shaping Security Needs at Edge?

Challenges in IoT:

A) Data Security and Privacy on edge:

The most threatening aspect which comes along with the inclusion of IoT in the health industry is data piracy. Though IoT conveys the real-time data most of the IoT devices lack data protocols and standards.

In addition to that, there is significant ambiguity regarding data ownership regulation. All these weak aspects make it prone to cybercrimes, hacking of systems placing the doctor’s reputation and patient’s health at risk.

Cybercriminals can use patient’s data for wrong purposes like, creating fake IDs to buy drugs or medical equipment which they can sell at expensive cost later. Hackers can also use the data to file a fraudulent insurance claim in the patient’s name.

B) Slow Process:

Multiple devices and Protocols: The integration of multiple devices has slowed down the procedure in the healthcare sector, which may result in fatally. The reason for the same is that device manufacturers haven’t reached a consensus on common communication protocols and standard.

When multi-devices are connected, the differences in communication protocol mess up and delays the process of data collection. The non-uniform connection protocol causes delay and degrades the value of IoT in healthcare.

C) Overloaded data smudges accuracy:

Data aggregation becomes tough because of multiple-device integration and their different protocol and standards. However, IoT collects the number of data which are used to get profit-making insights.

But, huge data creates a situation of plight where it becomes tough to derive insights which can be useful for doctors for decision making.

D) Expensive:

Inclusion of IoT in healthcare can undoubtedly provide so many benefits for the patients, but cost curbs its access to the common people. Though it has eased the work of doctors to monitor the patient’s health every moment it has still not made itself affordable for ordinary people.

IoT, Internet of Things has brought a new era of transparency and has empowered health administration. Data provided by it are used for outlining the result of treatment, but some negative aspects have also warned the users.

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admin
October 24, 2019
Quality Assurance

Why Amazon and Home Depot Always Spend More Time on QA Activities

Quality Assurance is a well-defined process to assure that product quality meets specified requirements and customer expectations.

Software is a part of all of our lives that we can’t ignore.

How do we feel when our software doesn’t work correctly?

In this speedy digital world, a user doesn’t have time to be patient with software. In this scenario, quality assurance (QA) comes into the picture.

Why QA in your business?

  • It helps in building the trust of the user. When customers are satisfied with the company’s developed system, it can really help in creating good branding.
  • It saves costs and fixes issues before problems become larger, and it helps to set and maintain quality standards by preventing problems.
  • When quality assurance is done correctly, it shows the work efficiency of the company and builds their confidence to provide a smooth system to the customers.
  • QA also covers security testing, which can help you to save cost from data breach and other issues.

Best QA practices for your company:

Quality assurance is one of our most powerful secret weapons to achieve the best results in the product.

Following are some of the best practices for any software in terms of

1) Performance Testing:

Have you ever wondered how many visitors will be visiting amazon daily? How many visitors during their sale, at the same time? How they will be handling their load, especially when there is a sale for a particular time slot?

It is really difficult to handle such big traffic on your product. Here Performance testing comes in the picture. We can improve the performance of the system in terms of speed, reliability and stability under different workloads.

Nowadays, Performance testing is the key part of the software system whether it is a growing startup or well-known brand.

2) Security Testing:

The rise of digital business has made security testing extremely important.

IBM says in a study that the cost of lost business after a breach for US organizations is $4.2 million.

Epic Games is being sued over security breaches that allowed hackers to access the personal information of Epic Games accounts.

Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, supplying tools, construction products, and services based in the USA, said that they have identified the malware to steal customer’s payment information. Around 56 million credit and debit cards used by customers are at risk.

Why security testing?

Security testing, in the current scenario, is a must to identify and address web application security vulnerabilities to avoid any of the following:

  • Customers trust issues
  • Disturbance to your online means of revenue generation/collection.
  • Website downtime, time loss and expenditures in recovering from damage (re-installing services, restoring backups, etc.)
  • The cost associated with securing web applications against future attacks.
  • Related legal implications and fees for having a lack of security measures in place.

3) User Acceptance Testing or End-user testing:

User acceptance test(UAT) is the final stage of testing that is carried out before the software goes live. This testing plays an important role in validating if all the business requirements are fulfilled or not before releasing the software for market use.

Here Alpha testing and Beta testing comes in the Picture.

4) Alpha Testing:

Alpha testing is the last testing done by the test teams at the development site before releasing the software for the beta test. This is a form of in-house acceptance testing.

5) Beta Testing:

In Beta, the testing product is released for a few external user groups outside the company. Whatsapp Releases first beta version of their application. So, if you have registered your self as a beta tester in the play store you get early updates of Whatsapp as a beta application.

This is one of the most important phases of the project as here we can use real-time data and real-time users who are actually going to use the system would validate the system.

6) Regression Testing:

After launching any product successfully, maintenance of that product is as important as development which includes enhancements, error corrections, optimization and deletion of existing features. These changes can affect the working system.

When there is a change in requirement or any new requirement comes for existing product or software at this time Regression Testing is done to ensure that new changes are not effecting previously developed or existing functionality.

Here Automation Testing comes in the picture. Repetition of the same thing can cost you. So Automation Testing tool is developed to maintain quality, time and cost.

7) Automation Testing:

Automating the QA (Quality Analysis) process will make sure that the software has been tested enough and that too multiple times at any juncture of the development and modification.

Why Automation testing?

  • Testing is carried out quickly and deliver faster results with lesser effort and time
  • Faster feedback and validation of various phases of the software project
  • Automated test cases can be re-used
  • Helps in creating, manipulating and protecting your test database

Automation Testing can be performed on various products such as,

  • Web Functional Testing
  • Web Performance Testing
  • Mobile Automation Testing
  • Continuous Integration Testing

Various tools are used when it comes to automation testing such as Selenium, Appium, Apache Jmeter, Ranorex, Cucumber etc.

Want to do something about your QA process?

Quality Assurance not only focusing on finding bugs but it also includes continuous improvement, defining a clear test strategy, and going that extra mile to improve quality.

In Prompt Softech, our focus is not only Developing product, but we look for giving the best software quality assurance services. For which we have a team who assures Quality of product.

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admin
October 18, 2019
IoT

Developer Skills Required for Successful Enterprise IoT Projects

Successful launch of IoT project then rafting it on the success stream and ending its as the spondulicks-oriented project remains tough if developer skill lacks for the completion of an IoT project in an IoT development company:

  • Embedded firmware developers
  • Back-end developers
  • App developers
  • Data scientists
  • Hardware designers
  • Wireless communications experts
  • Front-end developers
  • Automation and systems integration engineers

The first and the future determining step of any IoT project is – defining a goal and drafting a proof-of-concept system to reach the goals.  At this stage, one needs a subset of the skills, but once project lines up in success, the requirement of breadth and depth of team increases.

In an IoT application development company, it is possible that an individual developer can have several skills, but sometimes each skill requires their team. The number of people or the need of a separate team is dependent on the complexity of the project and its success. Huge success demands extreme hard work hence more bucks to hire more people.

A) Hardware Designers:

IoT, being a most-in-demand system, have some terms and conditions in the form of custom hardware design. The complexity of the hardware depends on the projects. Simple projects require hardware modules and reference designs for which a primary electrical engineering education is enough. Complex project demands considerably more experience and expertise.

Typical skills required:

  • RF and antenna design
  • Clocks, signal routing experience
  • Interfacing: SPI, I2C, JTAG, USB, GPIO
  • Production and component sourcing
  • Low-power design and power consumption optimization,
  • Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design
  • Chip selection: microcontrollers, sensors, interface chips

B) Embedded Firmware Developers:

IoT application development company have Embedded developers who turn the concept into magic. These are the software people that work on software at an extreme level, very close to the bare metal hardware. This software is called firmware.

The typical background consists of computer architecture, electrical engineering and software development. Embedded developers have to deal with prototype versions of the final hardware and their desks, indeed a messy work.

Typical skills required:

  • Programming languages: C, assembly language, C++
  • Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) experience: FreeRTOS, Contiki, Zephyr
  • Source code version control
  • Embedded Linux
  • Physical and information security
  • Platforms: Texas Instruments, ARM Cortex, AVR, Microchip, Arduino, Raspberry Pi.

Also Read: Is It Easy to Have an Embedded Software Development?

C) Wireless Communications Experts:

The IoT Project roams around wireless services, but wireless is hard because it integrates the complexities of the physical world with the complexities of software.

Necessary background for a wireless communication expert is- wireless communication, network protocols, and software development. For consumer-level IoT systems, wireless communication proficiency is required to connect the devices smoothly via Bluetooth to users’ smartphones.

Typical skills required:

  • Wireless mesh networking
  • Good understanding of power consumption
  • Network simulation
  • Good knowledge of wireless propagation
  • Protocols: TCP/IP, IPv4, IPv6, RPL, TLS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 6lowpan, ZigBee, LoRA, MQTT, CoAP

D) Back-End Developers:

In IoT systems, the back-end is a system where databases and application logic is stored. It is generally deployed in a cloud host and stores data from the IoT devices while authenticating users and providing APIs for the front-end, meanwhile integrating with other systems.

Typical skills required:

  • Database: MySQL, MongoDB, Redis
  • DevOps experience
  • Programming languages: JavaScript, Go, Python, Ruby
  • Cloud platforms: Amazon AWS, Heroku, Microsoft Azure

E) Front-End Developers:

Most IoT projects have a front-end in the form of a web page for providing a platform to the users of the system for interaction purposes. So, it needs to be easy to use, secure, can work in the most common web browsers and need to be updated.

Front-ends are developed in HTML and require framework written in JavaScript. Front-end developers are responsible for creating visual experiences, often by writing lots of text on a screen.

Typical skills required:

  • UI/UX design
  • HTML, CSS, Javascript
  • Experience with user interviews and HCI
  • Web development frameworks: Vue.js, React, Bootstrap

Also Read: Is IoT is Actively Shaping Security Needs at Edge?

F) App Developers:

Many IoT projects, particularly user-facing use a mobile app as the user interface. As the project proceeds, the mobile app experience becomes more and more critical. This reflects that two versions of the app need to be developed and update that is iOS and Android. Possibly, a native hybrid app which is developed in HTML is the way to do. Experienced app developers are aware of the benefits and challenges of hybrid or native frameworks.

Typical skills required:

  • Native/ hybrid frameworks: Phonegap/Cordova, Ionic, Angular, React, Vue
  • Android, iOS development
  • Programming languages: Java, Swift, Objective C, JavaScript

G) Systems Integration and Automation and Engineers:

Most of the times, IoT projects require integration with existing software. Generally, software integration is an underrated task that consumes significant effort and requires a specific set of skills to be successful.

One needs to check the proper functioning of integration as well. Certainly for this, one needs automatic testing and systems integration, and automation engineers are hired for this purpose.

Typical skills required:

  • REST APIs
  • Automated testing frameworks: Jenkins, Mocha, Travis
  • Programming languages: Javascript, Java, Python, Bash

H) Data Scientists:

IoT projects are about data, and one needs to extract the synopsis from it. Initially, this may be simple as putting Key performance indicators into an excel sheet to compare them, but with the progress, it requires in-depth data analysis. Then, comes the role of data scientists to extract the beneficial and future determining data for the success of the project.

Typical skills:

  • Programming languages: Matlab, R, Python
  • Statistics, AI, machine learning, data mining
  • Tools: Excel, Google BigQuery, Hadoop, TensorFlow, Spark

I) In a nutshell:

A full-featured IoT project needs a wide range of skills for its success. Initially, you might not find the importance or need of all the skill, but once the project begins for real, all the above-listed skills become mandatory.

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admin
September 30, 2019
IoT

Is IoT is Actively Shaping Security Needs at Edge?

Today most of the technology is spinning the best version of the industry. Many of the always-connected devices are drawing the full advantage of cloud computing, meanwhile, IoT manufacturers and app developers are discovering to scratch the benefits of performing more computational analytics on the devices themselves.

This approach skips latency for critical applications, decreases dependency on the cloud, and assures better management of deluge of data generated by the IoT.

The number of devices connected to the Internet to make up the IoT, i.e., machines, sensors, and cameras is in use without any obstacle.

IDC has forecast to have 41.6 billion connected IoT devices or things till 2025, generating 79.4 zettabytes of data. As this data would expectedly boom in the near future, the data generated will also increase. It would turn more challenging for enterprises to protect the Edge-the source of the data.

The influence of IoT is shadowing the whole globe with the fastest of its speed. The entrepreneurs are targeting to put more intelligence on the Edge using smarter and potential devices. This new advancement expands the old-traditional enterprise IT infrastructure beyond a data center or cloud environment.

Starting its way from small things till trucks, containers, kiosks, warehouses, and commercial buildings, everything is creating an ecosystem of Edge devices that does not restrain till data collection and disseminates data but performs highly complex tasks like Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the outer reaches of the network.

The shared data reflect the high risk of the data breach as no. of edge devices are increasing.

As per last years stat. 1244 data breaches which exposed 446.5 million records which comes at a high price.

Ponemon Institute calculates that the data breach cost (average) would exceed to $3.5 million, and definitely this loss magnitude is not entertaining for businesses.

So it’s a crucial time for entrepreneurs to take an appropriate step to paralyze loss-making ongoing breach and protect themselves from its vulnerability.

Edge the new future

Edge computing and IoT: A way to balance act?

The primary purpose of Edge computing is to overcome the enormous data generated by IoT sensors and devices.

For many applications, this system means to analyze and act on data at the Edge of the network (closer to data sources) than forwarding it to the remote or centralized data center for processing.

Most of the time, an IoT device processes it.

Introduction of data-generating devices to the network in increasingly remote location causes cybersecurity vulnerabilities, gifting them an easy entry point into the network that can be used to get into the core systems that the Edge devices connect to.

To sum up, today, entrepreneurs need to secure each device instead of focusing on perimeter protection. In short, the concept of the network perimeter is vanishing. Instead of defending the perimeter, the enterprise must secure each device.

Public Key Infrastructure as a proactive solution

Clutching the data breach that can exploit the IoT network need thorough data protection and device security solution. A single mistake in the security of any device on the network imperils the entire network.

Edge node security can be referred to as supreme to prevent exploitation of any access point, including proactive rather than reactive cyber-defense.

Attack vectors are unpredictable or inconsistent, so IoT protection must be updated with time.

Baseline defense mechanisms include authentication and verification of devices in the network.

It has been concluded that static credentials with a strong password have lost the potential to provide a high level of protection to escape from operational disruption or data loss.

Old-tradition-bound security applications like antivirus and firewalls do not work with the devices that are out beyond the enterprise’s network.

Cohesive encryption algorithms and certification based authentication are must be required. PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) framework can provide encryption to protect data in motion across the networks and assures that all the connected devices are authenticated.

Edge computing and IoT are new architectures that need the latest high-level security approaches. No old concept is adaptable today as it offers no security or if applied the processors set up at the Edge must have an encrypted shield against attack. Robust identity verification and encrypted data transmission are two essential components of this approach.

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admin
September 17, 2019
Mobile Apps

Did You Use The Right Mobile Tech-Stack in 2019 for Your Startup?

For the success of a mobile app, the technology stack used for its development act as a critical ingredient. Neglecting its profound importance can lead to unavoidable failure. Hence opting a right tech stack is mandatory because it can cut off the high cost and time consumption required for mobile app development.

Before taking off for paragliding to see mind-boggling tech world which offers the best tech stack in 2019, I would like to inform you that find the best mobile app development company. A top-notch mobile app development services assure to turn your concept into reality.

After reading the complete Tech Stack, if you have used all or some, do let us know in the comment box. As an offer, we will be using your startup name or product name in our next Blog edition as an example of a big thing.

Native app development

The Native App development symbolises the use of the specific platform with a specific language, software development kits, development environments, and other tools offered by the operating system vendor. This states that building native apps on different platforms requires separate mobile app development technologies for each.

A) Technology stack for iOS apps in 2019:

Are you planning for native application for iOS? Consider the following tech stack to get the potential output.

1. Programming languages: Objective-C, Swift:

For developing an iOS app, one can either go for Swift or Objective-C.

Objective-C consists of C programming language and proffers object-oriented functionalities along with dynamic runtime environment.

Whereas Swift offers less error-prone codes, topped with more functionality. The inline support for handling text strings and data, libraries which are directly uploaded to memory, lite size of the app contributes to improving app performance.

2. Toolkit: Apple Xcode:

This comes in play if you have opted Swift for your iOS app for developing a native app. This heavily-featured development environment allows for creating mobile apps and desktop applications.

The Xcode has integrated support for Git repositories, instrumentation and debugging tools, integrated documentation and graphical editor to generate user interfaces.

3. SDK: iOS SDK:

The iOS SDK has API, i.e. Application Programming Interface, which act as a connecting link between software applications and platforms they run on. APIs have important programming libraries and other tools. Generally, iPhone SDK offers tools for touch screen interface and iOS operating system which administer Apple’s iPhones and other mobile devices like the iPad or Macbook.

B) Android technology stack in 2019

If you are fascinated in Android, then having a deep dive into its different stacks and features would undoubtedly diminish all the queries and confusions. Following mobile technologies are must-to-know before initiating the project.

1. Programming languages: Java, Kotlin

Java and Kotlin are the languages one can use for developing the Android mobile app.

Java consists of vast open-source tools and libraries, but it has some limitations. However, Kotlin is designed to overcome all the limitations of Java by offering solutions to API design deficiencies. It is more stable and has a congruous development option. Kotlin is lightweight, clean and much less verbose.

2. Toolkit: Android Studio & Android Developer Tools:

Android studio offers debugging, code editing, a flexible build system, performance tooling and an instant deploy system.

ADT backs in android app development and even permits developers to use various on-device debugging tools, emulators, a graphical UI builder and fully scriptable test automation support.

3. SDK: Android SDK

In order to write programs with latest features, developers are required to download and install each version of SDK for a particular phone. One can download different components of Android SDK separately.

C) Cross-platform app development:

Developing a cross-platform app means creating an app which can be used on multiple platforms. This means cross-platform allows developers to use a single code base for the mobile app development to assure adaptability on the majority of devices.

Technology stack for cross-platform apps

Let’s check out the different framework for cross-platform app development.

1. React Native + JavaScript/TypeScript:

React Native is a JavaScript framework for inscribing mobile application that acts native on both Android and iOS. React Native uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular Android and iOS apps. One just needs to arrange those building blocks together using JavaScript and React.

React Native develop a highly functional approach to the constructive user interface. By using react native, your application UI can remain fully native, whereas application logic can be written and run in JavaScript.

Instagram and Skype stand as the best example of the same.

TypeScript language can also be used for creating a cross-platform application. It offers features for quick and easy error detection while writing react components.

General components are useful in the TypeScript toolbox as they provide high safety while inscribing components, tightening the feedback loop and helps in finding errors.

2. Xamarin + C#:

Xamarin is a tool used in cross-platform mobile app development that permits engineers to share about 90 % of code across major platforms. It uses C# as the primary language. C#is a statically typed language with mature tooling and IDE support.

In general, an app written in C# is cross-compiled to native Android and iOS binaries. One can even use device-specific APIs and functionality from within C# code.

For instance, Pinterest and Slack are built with Xamarin.

D) Hybrid app development:

Development of a hybrid app usually utilises the standard web technologies and tools like HTML5, JavaScript and CSS.

The shared code is then boxed in a native container using various tools and can be used as a regular app.

For example,
McDonald’s Turkiye and Untappd.

Factors to consider when choosing a technology stack:

Today one might enter into the situation of “what to do or which stack to use?”

The dilemma remains alive unless you don’t gather the correct information and focus on your requirements.

Build a solid plan which can escalate your ideas into reality and generate immense profit. Having a professional, full-featured software with scalability and full security can only contribute to better results.

What points should you consider while looking for mobile app development?

Let’s roam a bit.

Type of project:

This particular section needs to be laser-focused as it can define the whole requirements and steps to be taken.

Suppose if you are planning to have a complex mobile app assuring great performance, wholly customized along with platform-specific UI implementation, then opting Native would work better.

Then Kotlin or Swift would be programming language options.

Validating an idea:

If you are just on the track to start your start-up business and wish to launch your product, engage the potential user then be smart enough and ahead from your competitors. Choose cross-platform to churn the maximum benefit.

React native would be the best to go with as it is cost-effective, allows the use of a single code on various platforms.

Time to market:

This act as a spine of any product. Good marketing can evolve benefits and attract potential users. Speed of marketing can decide its validity in the market. If you wish to speed-up product development, then look for framework or language which can provide ready-made solutions for common development tasks like social media integration and authentication.

End Words:

The utility of mobile phones is rising day by day, indicating significant growth in the mobile industry. If in this mobile-webbed-world, you wish to add yourself in the mobile app industry then be particular about your choices, approach and potential users. There are many mobile development services providing companies but look for a portfolio before signing them.

Did you use any of the above tech-stack for your start-up? Then, share your experience and write your company’s name in the comment box.

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admin
September 4, 2019
Mobile Apps

Impeccable Features You Need to Have in Online Grocery App

E-commerce application has now become no new in the market, from food delivery to the real state it has cemented its worthiness. As per the Nielsen report, one-quarter of people use mobile apps to shop grocery, and it is expected that the percentage would reach to half in the coming years. The growing utilisation has boomed the opportunities for grocery app development industries.

Reasons are obvious; the hectic schedule has terminated the luxury of free time. Today people buy many products online using a mobile app. The accessibility to order groceries anytime and anywhere and get it at doorstep has majorly contributed to the success of an online mobile app.

The mobile app ensures a great experience and engraves extra time consumptions. So, most of the businesses today own mobile app for attracting the audience and making benefits from them. If you too have planned for online grocery app and searching for top-notch mobile app development services then be specific and precise about your requirements and customers’ demand.

Here I list some of the basic features which an online grocery app (like Big basket and Grofers ) must have to offer seamless and convenient services.

Must-Have Features

Cart sharing & shopping list:
This feature can create a sense of privacy as well as togetherness. For example, a husband and wife can shop using a single Cart. They can share the cart link through email or message and provide access to each other. However, one can keep the privacy of other carts and enjoy their shopping individually.

Shopping list feature enables the user to create a list of goods they want to purchase and can even use it for future orders.

Faceted search:
This feature eases the search process as it narrows down the options which customer is looking for without checking the catalogue description. User can type the product-related keywords or phrases into the search box and get the results without loitering through an app. Auto-suggestion feature and ‘add to cart’ feature also wooes consumer.

Push-Notification:
The most known still most effective way to get users is ‘push notification’. The mobile app must possess a push notification feature to notify customers about the latest deals and offers. Through push notifications, a user gets to know about the latest deals, coupons and discounts which ultimately compels them to buy a product.

If you own multiple grocery shops, then developing a geo-enabled app will help the users to track your nearest store location easily.

Real-time Tracking and Notifications:
The grocery items require fast delivery to retain their quality. A grocery app must provide the tracking option and should notify the user about the delivery status and expected a delivery time of the same. The real-time tracking feature and notification through messages can keep the user updated about the product. Send notification on the day of delivery while adding information about the delivery agent and logistic company.

Coupon Codes and Special deals:
Who doesn’t relish offers and discount on their favourite products? Providing seasonal offers or reward coupons sticks the user on your app and maintains stability. It even attracts new customers on your app.

As per the stat. shared by Invesprco team, In 2k19, 31 million coupons will be redeemed worldwide, and 62 per cent smartphone users will expectedly use digital coupons in the future. The stat reveals that adding rewards and offers can accelerate the sales rate and can improve income.

Sign up options:
The long, form-filling type sign up process really bothers customers. An easy way to sign up in the mobile app can conveniently engage a user. Providing one-click access through social media can contribute to captivating and sustaining users.

Still, there exists an effecting audience who does not use social media logins, out of privacy leakage fear. Providing an alternative option like one-click signup form having a mobile number or email can be a better way.

Reviews and ratings:
Providing reviews and rating system can actually be more beneficial to the mobile app because it gives a platform to the user to provide feedback. One can improve the product quality, and in fact, it’s delivery services by working on the inputs.

Secondly, the other benefit is that a good rating and reviews create a strong portfolio. It acts as social proof and helps in getting more sales.

Product comparisons:
The price comparison of one product with another always keep your consumers engaged and confirms assured actions. This feature provides an opportunity for the users to compare the products from different brands in terms of quality, prices, ingredient etc.

Multiple Payment Options:
Providing a safe, secure, and multi-payment option can be another way to get more users. Grocery shopping is a routine process, offering multiple payment options while assuring security allows your customers to pay by cash, credit & debit cards, digital wallets, PayPal, Net banking, etc. Adding virtual points also keep a user interested in your platform.

All these are the primary feature which every grocery app should have. But why one should hire Prompt Softech for Grocery Mobile App development? What are the extraordinary features they are proving for your business?

The prodigious features, responsible for generating spondulicks provided by the Softech company are:

Product Re-order: The re-order feature will offer your consumer a ready-made shopping list every month as per the past orders to quicken the shopping procedure. It eases the search-process and will provide the choicest product in the cart while offering the discount (based on t&c).

Diet Based Ready Cart: This new ‘health-conscious’ feature will provide an option to the users to either choose a diet cart or non-diet cart. As per the selection, the application will display the low calorie or high-calorie products in the suggestion. This will also help the user in maintaining their health.

Packages to uncurtain: The app will provide a feature in which one can select all the needed-items and then look for the packages as per their monthly budget. This feature will ensure to balance the monthly budget without compromising with the quantity and quality.

Certainly, the platform which can be used in a grocery app with the above features lies in the ‘must-to-know’ category.

Prompt Softech uses the following platforms :
1) Web
2) Android
3) iOS

Getting back to features, the above three mentioned additional features provided by the Prompt Softech differentiate your app form the crowd. The unbeatable and impeccable services have been their identity. So, wasting time would be like spending money. Work with Prompt Softect and get a better app than the existing-competitive grocery apps.

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admin
August 26, 2019
Web Development

Why Do You Need To Redesign Your Website?

Renovation is required everywhere either its house, mobile app or website. It has been recorded that old and outdated websites usually backfires for businesses. It is usually recommended that business owners should update their website every fifth year. A beautiful website outlines your business and remarks its worthiness. So, a website can either upheave your business to a new height or pull you down.

There are some indicative signs which suggest for the renovation of the website. Hunt for the top web development company to get your website redesigned but before that below mentioned are few tell-tale signs which one should not overlook.

1. Not very mobile responsive:

Arranging a time from a busy schedule of a day to open a laptop and check the website does not sound apt. If your website isn’t mobile responsive, then you might fail in advertising your business among a large audience which uses mobile phones to check websites and lose them. The worst of all is Google penalizes sites that lack mobile responsiveness.

2. No new leads:
If your website is unable to attract new opportunities and projects, then it signals that it needs to be updated as per the current trend. A website is created to generate leads, and if it fails in making opportunities, then it’s useless to have it. Update your website to sustain its genuinity.

3. Goals and Strategies are changed:
It is apparent with the time that goal and strategies change to harmonize with the latest trends. If you have modified the business model, offerings and goals, then you need to change the look of your website as well. A website should complement with the goal and envision the real purpose and concept of business. It should intent to boom the opportunities and contribute to economic growth.

4. Outdated Website Design:
Time changes the trend and switches to a new pattern. Opting in-demand colours and font style can woo audiences. Being stuck on the old-rigid styles might dump you in loss and regrets. Outdated colours, font styles, less image and more fonts reflect that your site belongs to the ‘no-more in demand’ category. Such websites rarely catch leads and weave benefit. Redesign your website and engrave all the bad luck and losses.

5. Outdated Plugins:
The rapid progress and introduction of new technology in a slip of months have craved the necessity to be on fast and advance pace. Being stuck on the old tech stack might become risky. For instance, if your website uses Flash, then it might become problematic as the latest browser does not support it. Not just this, outdated plugins can open the windows of hacks and security issues. Updating the website design can resolve all the issues and attract leads.

Landing on the solutions, there are some smart steps through which you can redesign your existing business websites. Developing a website which can ‘fit-in’ with the latest trend can pare the vying with other businesses. The old website does not fascinate customers and generates fewer opportunities.

Here are some simple stairs which can lead your business to new prominence.

Set Goals:

Having a clear vision of what you want to include in your website based on the set target can ultimately untangle complications and plights. Decide what you want to achieve through your new website. Do you want to improve the design or want to increase sales or make the site convenient and responsive?

Maintain ‘to-add’ list and discuss it with a web application development company. They will make changes as per your demand.

Eye on Contenders:

Scaling the potentials of the competitors breathing in the industry will always help you in setting the goal and designing the website. Know what your competitors are doing to boost business. Are they using effective and spondulicks-generating approaches? Why are they more successful in alluring customers and promoting their website.

Generate the list of your competitors and conduct a detailed analysis quarterly. Adopt useful practices and implement it in the project but before redesigning the website.

Scaling:
Moving a step ahead has always been beneficial. So, we recommend drafting a future-oriented plan to achieve the desired target. If you have planned for adding new features, then think for it while considering its future outcomes. It is good to plan future features because sometimes the addition of new functions requires a radical change. Having a basis of scaling will undoubtedly help in saving time and bucks as well.

SEO and Analyst:
It has been often observed that many clients and companies turn a deaf ear to SEO and analytics. However, ignoring it can slow down or in fact, can become an issue in the promotion of the website. Internal SEO improves the ranking of your site in the google search, which results in improved and economic traffic on a website. Use of Google Analytics will also help you in knowing the behaviour of the users.

Budget:
Budget can come up as one of the vital aspects while redesigning the website. The number of features you want to include will redefine the expected budget. Secondly, the complication or simplicity will add or decrease the bucks.

Development Time:
The development time for the website is reliable on the extent of complexities it holds. The website development process includes several steps and phases depending on requirements. Website development companies in India follow the steps to provide the desired outcome. The development period may vary from one week to a month. Usually, a small project takes two-three weeks whereas a large project takes 3-6 months.

Choose the company:
Having a reliable company which can redesign your website can ease your way. There are many web development companies in USA and India, but you need to check their portfolio before signing them. A website should look professional, profit-making and target-oriented.

Prompt Softech in India is one of the leading web application development company in India. Treasured with highly hardworking and dedicated proficients, it endeavours to provide the best and optimal outcome. Cost-wise, the company charges at a genuine rate and are quality-aligned.

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